Metal Men
Write the first paragraph of your page here. Strange Origins Kanigher’s experience living through Seduction of the Innocent and the senate hearings that led to the Comics Code that motivated him to attempt to give these comics an “educational” bent (something I’ve also wondered about Metamorpho), but whatever the motivation was, the result was magic. The combination of factual science trivia being doled out between stuff like radioactive dinosaurs and walking toxic waste tanks is just endlessly entertaining. The Metal Men may have been given one-note personalities — Gold is self-important, Mercury’s hot-headed (and liquid at room temperature), Iron’s strong, Platinum is lovestruck — but basing those personalities on the actual physical properties of the metals they were based on, however loosely, is a great idea. Lead’s dense, get it? And when you drop those one-note personalities into the same story and let them bounce off of each other, the results can be pretty compelling. Especially when we’re looking at it from the point of view of Dr. Magnus himself. Will Magnus is one of the best parts of the story, if only because he’s just so fascinatingly weird. He’s not the adventuring scientist that you get with Reed Richards or the two-fisted genius like Doc Savage he’s just this uptight ’50s dad in the middle of the craziest stories you’ve ever read, perfectly calm about everything going on around him except his frustrations with his creations — frustrations that stem from the idea that he made them too perfect. His relationship with Platinum alone is something that could fill entire books with analysis of just what exactly is supposed to be going on there. If you’ve never read it, the short version is that Platinum is extremely vocal about being in love with Doc, which he always responds to by telling her that she’s a robot, not a woman, and that he’s going to give her to the science museum if she doesn’t shut up about it. It’scrazy, and the question that keeps coming up if you read these stories is why did he make a lady robot in a sexy nurse costume that’s in love with him if he’s just going to be a jerk to her? It’s like some bizarre sociopathic BDSM thing that plays out in the most literal possible manner in the pages of a superhero comic from the ’60s. Later creators have attempted to justify this, along with the rest of the Metal Men’s personalities, and one of my least favorite retcons of all time was that Magnus had actually given them the digitized personalities of real people that he knew who were killed. For me, that’s both depressing and way too limiting. I much prefer the idea that Magnus was just too good at what he did. He accidentally created sentient beings when he wasn’t trying, and his frustrations come from the fact that they’re too much like their creator, full of life and emotion. I mean, don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t really make the stuff with Platinum any better, but I’m way more comfortable with that than I am with Magnus threatening to give his dead ex-girlfriend’s soul to the science museum. Anyway, as much as I’ve talked about Kanigher, you cannot overstate how much Andru and Esposito brought to the table. Like Bruno Premiani’s work in Doom Patrol, their work on Metal Men is astonishingly dynamic. It holds up even today, and back in 1962, I can only imagine how turning a page and seeing this would’ve blown someone’s someone’s mind. The Metal Men, which have been a part of the comic book scene for nearly four decades, started out as a scheduling glitch. When The Atom moved out into his own book, no content was ready for the 37th issue of Showcase (Mar-Apr 1962), the DC Comics title where new concepts were tried out before being given series of their own — and the issue was due at the printer in two weeks. Writer-editor Robert Kanigher created a band of adventuring robots and scripted a story for them over a single weekend, and handed it to a pair of speed demon artists, penciller Ross Andru and inker Mike Esposito, the team that had been drawing Wonder Woman and The War that Time Forgot under Kanigher's editorship for several years. They made their deadline with days to spare. Since Kanigher never expected there to be a second Metal Men story, he killed them off at the end. But even as rushed as the concept was, the characters were deemed to have a chance of success, and were pencilled in for the next three issues of Showcase. So #38 opened with the robots' creator, Dr. Will Magnus, salvaging their parts — especially the all-important "responsometers" that gave them life — and forging a new set of Metal Men identical to the first. Death at the end of each adventure, followed by resurrection at the start of the next, was a schtick of theirs for years, one of The Metal Men's endearing trademarks. There were six Metal Men, made of six different metals: Iron, Gold, Lead, Tin, Mercury and Platinum. Each had the metal's physical characteristics, and personal traits to match. For example, Iron was strong and dependable but not very flexible, Lead was solid but not very firm and not very bright, and Mercury was — well, mercurial. Platinum was bright and beautiful, like the metal, and cast in a female shape. Because of a faulty responsometer, she thought of herself as a real woman, and was in love with Doc Magnus. Most had no names other than their metals, but Platinum called herself Tina. The Metal Men surprised everyone at DC by proving popular enough to get their own bimonthly comic, the first issue of which was cover dated Apr-May 1963. In addition to an exciting (but usually rather oddball) adventure starring an appealingly diverse set of personalities, each issue was like a chemistry lesson. Recurring villains included Chemo, who could field a wide variety of destructive chemicals, and The Gas Gang, a bunch with powers analogous to The Metal Men's own. The comic was never a blockbuster best-seller, but it succeeded well enough to last out most of the 1960s. Eventually, however, it ran out of steam. With its 41st issue (Dec-Jan 1969-70), it was cancelled. It was revived in 1976, and ran another dozen bimonthly issues. Since then, there have been a few specials, guest appearances, mini-series, etc. keeping them around. Like many minor characters, no longer able to sustain comics of their own on a regular basis, The Metal Men have been handled in widely different ways by different writer/artist teams. A recent one purports to explain why their responsometers give them such human-like personalities, and why attempts to outfit them with new responsometers always made them cold and — well, robot-like. It seems they've somehow latched onto the personality patterns of recently-dead humans. In keeping with that theme, Doc Magnus himself was killed off and replaced with a robotic simulacrum. He is now Veridium, a metal which seems to have no exact counterpart in the real world. Tina, needless to say, sees this as a fine state of affairs. At last — she has a chance! TABLE OF CONTENTS The Current Day Metal Men *The Wheel of the World *Responsometers *52 *Recently Pre-Crisis Obscure Metal Men Appearances/References The Current Day Metal Men Following the Infinite Crisis, the history of the Metal Men was rewritten. Whereas the originals were created around the time of Superman's debut (10-12 years ago), the current Metal Men are only about four years old. The first evidence that the Metal Men were "rebooted" was Will Magnus' as a human in 52 #2 (May 2006). Prior to this, Will Magnus had been transformed into one of his own creations, Veridium. It is unclear which, if any, of the Metal Men's pre-Crisis adventures are still considered a part of continuity. Though their origin is essentially the same, it is now much more complex and Copper has been added to the line-up. 52 #22 mentions that Will once became the Plutonium Man and suffered from mental instability. These events occurred in original continuity in ... + The Wheel of the World Tezumak, in the act of blood sacrifice From JLA #70 (2002) Art by Doug Mahnke The seeds of the technology that inspired the creation of the Metal Men were sown millennia ago, in the time of ancient Atlantis. In the century 1000 BCE, the great and notorious sorceress, Gamemnae '''drew together a League of Ancients from across the empire. One was the great warrior '''Tezumak, whose gods bestowed upon him great power, housed inside mystic armor. In response to a dire prophecy by Gamemnae, Tezumak and his companion,[http://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/manitouraven.htm Manitou Raven], once traveled into the 21st century to destroy the JLA. (JLA #66)After their return from the future, the JLA defeated Gamemnae and Tezumak's exact fate is a mystery. Tezumak's powerful armored hand was preserved by Homo magi ''priests. Years later in the city of Mu, a magician named '''Simon Magnus '''harnessed the power of a dimension called the Darkworld and created the '''Wheel of the World' (also known in some legends as the Philosopher's Stone). This powerful device could shape the elements and Magnus' fellow priests attempted to steal it. To prevent that, Magnus sealed the Wheel inside the hand of Tezumak. The hand and Wheel were kept by the priests of Mu until the year 411 CE, when'Zosimus', an heir of Orin, finally lost it to a being called the Nameless. The Nameless had achieved some success in manipulating the elements himself. He created the Gogoloth —metamorphing humans encased in earth—to take the hand and with blood, open it. But just as the Nameless was about to claim his prize, an unforeseen a visitor from the distant future arrived and stole away with the Wheel into the time stream. This visitor was Simon Magnus' descendent, Col. David Magnus. (#1) The legend of the Philosopher's Stone was based on concepts birthed in many different cultures. They speculated that that the elements could be rearranged. There is an interesting connection between DC's characters and actually history... Wikipedia summarizes: ... the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the philosopher's stone and passed it to his pupil Thomas Aquinas, shortly before his death circa 1280. Magnus does not confirm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did record that he witnessed the creation of gold by "transmutation." In the DC Universe, it is also said to be wielded by Doctor Alchemy, a foe of the Flash. Grant Morrison also introduced the Stone during his JLA arc "Rock of Ages" (in JLA ''#10-15, 1998). In this tale, the Stone was actually part of a much more powerful artifact called the Worlogog, which could manipulate reality itself. For a time, the Worlogog was housed inside the body of the android Hourman. No connection or distinction was ever made between Alchemy's talisman and the Worlogog. + The Responsometer The Responsometer/Wheel of the World/Philosopher's Stone From Metal Men v.3 #3 (2007) Art by Duncan Rouleau Four years ago '''William Maxwell Magnus '(another descendant of Simon Magnus) began piecing together the same technology as his ancestor did with the Wheel of the World. Magnus held degrees in theoretical mathematics, particle physics and mechanical engineering. When he was an advanced student, will exhibited at the Future Young Inventors Show. Will's theory recalled the legendary ability of the Philosopher's Stone: his Hypo/Hyper Flux theory proposed a way to make one atom behave like another. Though he hadn't yet achieved this ultimate goal, his research had enabled him to build a set of advanced robots to help in his demonstration. The robots—rather than Will's theories—were a sensation. But Will was disheartened because people had focused on his charismatic robotics, and not the potential of his theory. His mentor and professor, T.O. Morrow was there that day and introduces Magnus to R&D people from a company called Magna-Tech. Magna-Tech was willing to finance Will's work in robotics, but Will turned them down and continued to hone the Hypo-/Hyper flux theory. (Metal Men v.3 #1) Soon, though, his work caught the attention of Solomon Khan. Khan was, in fact an agent of the Nameless and both had survived since Atlantis, seeking to reclaim the Wheel of the World. When they heard about Will's breakthroughs, they wondered if he ''had been the Wheel's thief. The meeting with Will told them, however, that he was simply on the path to ''reinventing ''the Wheel, so to speak. (#2) With a check for $5 million and the help of his robots, Will quickly constructed an invention he called the '''Responsometer' (Magnus' design had been inspired by a drawing of the Wheel in Khan's home). With it, he sent out a signal to the universe, hoping to communicate directly with the elements. During all of this, Will had made up his mind to propose to his girlfriend, a fellow scientist, Helen Garin. '''But fate would not allow Magnus successes in both science and love. On the day that he intended to propose, the very gold engagement band he had bought... spoke! The breakthrough sidetracked him long enough for Helen to come under attack by a creature called '''Chemo. (#3) CLICK TO ENLARGE http://www.cosmicteams.com/cosmic/img/mm01.jpg The post-Infinite Crisis Metal Men, introducing Copper, from Metal Men v.3 #1 (2007). Art by Duncan Rouleau When he heard of the attacks, Dr. Magnus was quick to use his newfound knowledge to construct a more advanced set of robots. Powered by electricity, these newly-minted constructs onto the scene and subdued Chemo. Afterwards, the public and the media swarmed them, calling the robots the Metal Men. Will was swept away in the commotion, and Helen left him for good.The Nameless watched this public display and concluded that Will's work had drawn too much attention. (#4) At a press conference for the Metal Men, Will's old friend Prof. Morrow demonstrated his bitterness towards Will's success. Morrow would channel his negative energies into endeavors such as time travel and robotics (his most famous is the Red Tornado). Helen went on to work for Magna-Tech (which was also taken over by Solomon Khan). There she met Will's brother, Col. David Magnus and the two began dating. Will also constructed a Rocket Disc to transport the Metal Men around. After the dust had settled, Magnus brought the Metal Men to Solomon Khan. He rightly assumed that Khan would be thrilled by results obtained with Khan's support. Khan however, was more critical. The Metal Men were, in essence, examples of the opposite ''of Khan's goals. Instead of changing one element into another, the responsometers were causing metals to gradually become ''more ''like their base natures, and ''less ''able to flux—order, not chaos. Khan ordered Magnus to destroy the Metal Men, with the exception of Tin. Because Tin has 13 isotopes, the Responsometer had not completely solidified its communications with the element. (#5) The Nameless unleashed his Gogoloth on the Metal Men, and Gold was knocked apart from his Responsometer. The Metal Men escaped after defeating the Gogoloth and freeing Khan from the Nameless' control, but Gold could not be recovered. Or was he? To add to the confusion, visitors from the future arrived. David and Will Magnus swooped in and reclaimed Gold's Responsometer and head. In the future, David had glimpsed an apocalypse wrought by the Metal Men's existence; his mission was to impede their creation. David destroyed Gold's responsometer and then the brothers were attacked by Nameless. David was still in possession of the original Wheel of the World. When their time platform was destroyed, Will chose to save Gold's head (and the Wheel with it) instead of his brother. You see, because Gold was built using Helen's engagement ring—and was the first of the Metal Men—Will always held a special fondness for this creation. He couldn't bear to lose the ring again. David fell back to Earth in his home time, in the future, and found himself the victim of a strange fate... (#6) + In Between Doc Magnus struggles to recover from his post-kidnapping psychosis, during which time he creates the Plutonium Man (right). From Metal Men v.1 #45 (1976). Art by Walt Simonson After Khan was destroyed, Will's money was gone and it was some time before he could reconstruct Gold. Instead he fashioned a new Metal Man, '''Copper'. (#8) Some time after this, the Will Magnus of the future returned Gold's ring and responsometer, and the Metal Men were complete once again. After one of their mission, Will fell into a coma. (Metal Men v.1 #33)He was kidnapped from his hospital bed and brainwashed. (#40)the Metal Men rescued him relatively quickly, but before his sanity was completely recovered, his doctors allowed him to build the Plutonium Man. (#45) This creation became a menace and the Metal Men sacrificed themselves in order to destroy the Plutonium Man. (#47) Following this, Magnus was encouraged to take medication for his mental health. Grant Morrison stated that he was influenced by the original Metal Men #45, and alluded to Magnus' insanity when recreating the new Metal Men's history. + 52 Following the second great Crisis, Magnus attempted to reconnect with his old mentor, T.O. Morrow, who was a prisoner of Haven Penitentiary. Both had heard the news that various "mad scientists" had begun disappearing. (52 #2) Soon Morrow and Magnus were abducted as well. (#14, 22) They found themselves on Oolong Island in the Pacific Ocean. There Intergang's leader Chang Tzu 'had created a Science Squad from all the missing scientists. (#23) On Oolong, Will was forced to go off his medication and began a period of prolific creation. He also retained just enough sanity to rebuilt a Responsometer. (#39) In time he managed to create Iron, Tin, Gold and Mercury, who destroyed Chang Tzu. (#49) Before this, David Magnus had set out for Oolong to rescue Will. But David arrived ''after the island had supposedly been cleaned up by Earth's heroes. He arrived to find abandoned robots plotting their own destinies. David used their "Ever-Ware"—a leftover creation of Will's—to access the time stream. (Metal Men v.3 #4) He witnessed a horrible future wrought by the Metal Mens' very presence, and began a plan to prevent it by traveling back to ancient Atlantis. + Recently When T.O. Morrow alters the Metal Men, the result is— the Death Metal Men! From Metal Men v.3 #3 (2007) Art by Duncan Rouleau The Metal Men's greatest challenge to date involved a grand tug-of-war, with various factions seeking to use or destroy them for their own ends. In one corner, the Nameless still sought to retrieve his long-lost Wheel. Over time he had assumed ownership of Magna-Tech and staffed it completely with artificial intelligence. In another corner was T.O. Morrow, whose jealousy of Will's breakthrough led him to plot the Metal Mens' capture. And in yet another, Will's brother David set about preventing the Metal Mens' creating because he glimpsed a future where they had brought Earth to ruin. The Metal Men found an unlikely ally in the form of '''U.N.I.O.N. When the team first met this artificial intelligence, it was attempting to overthrow humankind. This battle knocked the Metal Men apart and a U.S. military organization called the M80s '''stepped in to claim the robots for "cataloguing and licensing." (#1) When Will was unable to recover his responsometers from the government, he set out to ''take ''them back. U.N.I.O.N. stepped in to help, and brought reinforcements—the '''Robot Renegades: the Manhunter Lud, Warbox, L-Ron '''and '''Body-X . They discovered that instead of the military, T.O. Morrow had stolen the Metal Men and turned them into the Death Metal Men! Iron, Platinum, Gold and Mercury had each been turned into Uranium, Thorium, Strontium and Radium, respectively. (#2) CLICK TO ENLARGE http://www.cosmicteams.com/cosmic/img/robot-renegades.jpg The Robot Renegades, led by the duplicitous Manhunter Lud, from Metal Men v.3 #2 (2008). Morrow had used the Kamarak—a particle accelerator from their days on Oolong Island—to accelerate atoms and produce new elements. Will used another device called the Particularium to cast out the free radicals and restore his creations. When this facility collapsed, the Metal Men were freed, and Will disappeared, plucked from the time stream by his brother, David.(#3) Will found himself in the "inside-out," as David described it. David showed Will various points in history, including the apocalyptic future and ancient Atlantis. (#4-5) Without Will to guide them, the Metal Men fell victim to Magna-Tech, which was now completely controlled by the Nameless himself. His minion the'Mech-Cannibal '''took the Metal Men by force but Gold and Lead escaped.(#5-6) Meanwhile Will had returned from he and David's trip into the past and saw the Metal Mens' predicament. (#7) Magnus went back into time and brought his own Metal Men back from the past to free the present day team. CLICK TO ENLARGE http://www.cosmicteams.com/cosmic/img/mm-viridium.jpg David Magnus becomes Viridium, the fusion of the ancient Wheel of the World and gold wreckage, from Metal Men v.3 #8 (2008). Lud was destroyed in this battle. Will ended things by attaching his time-travel device to the Nameless just as its power source waned. This left the Nameless stranded ... nowhen. Afterwards Will recommitted himself to his profession, to building, and to being on the frontier of science—for humanity's sake. (#8) Elsewhere, back on Oolong Island, David Magnus returned from the "inside-out." In the process, the remains of Gold's form had bonded to him, fused together by the Wheel of the World as they reentered the time stream. The Wheel whispered to him a new name: '''Viridium'. David was bent on revenge... Oolong Island was the pre-Crisis home to Egg Fu, foe of Wonder Woman—1st app. Wonder Woman ''#157 (1965). In current continuity, Chang Tzu was called "Egg Fu" behind his back. A man named Norton watched Chemo on TV. It is unclear what role Norton was supposed to have related to Chemo. This was Ramsey Norton, who created Chemo in''Showcase ''#39 (July-August 1962). L-Ron suggested that Warbox was made by a Japanese pop star. The Original, Pre-Crisis Metal Men Category:Comics characters introduced in 1962 Category:1963 comic debuts Category:DC Comics robots Category:DC Comics superhero teams Category:DC Comics titles Category:Characters created by Robert Kanigher Category:Characters created by Ross Andru Section heading Write the second section of your page here. The Metal Men are fictional characters that appear in comic books published by DC Comics. The characters first appeared in Showcase #37 and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and penciller Ross Andru. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the characters have appeared in comic books and other DC Comics-related products such as animated television series, clothing, figurines and trading cards. Publication history 1960s and 1970s Established as advanced artificially intelligent robots, the Metal Men were introduced in the comic book Showcase #37 as "last minute" filler.http://www.themetalmen.com/index.htm.Metal Men is presumed to come weird idea like Creature Commandos, a horror-flavored twist of soldiers resembling Universal Monsters on his usual war comic formula. and Metamorpho-a character Rex Mason,who tranform into different element.A powerful Orb of Ra transforms Rex Mason nto the Element Man, he loses his good looks but gains the ability to will himself into any chemical form.One is a group made of different monsters and a character,made of different elements.Also at the DC was pushing comics that pushed for educational substance.And over Marvel Comics,Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,had come up books the Fantastic Four and the X-Men were having a good time books about groups,of outcast,fighting evil about the world and beyond.So it dosen't too much brains to figure out,Robert Kanigher, who co-created the team in 1962 alongside Ross Andru and Mike Esposito coming up something similar.. ip Created by scientist Dr. William "Will" Magnus, the six robots were field leader , strong man Iron, slow-witted and loyal Lead, hot-headed Mercury, self-doubting and insecure Tin, and Platinum (also called "Tina"), who believed she was a real woman and was in love with her creator. The group's personalities mirrored their namesake metals, being dictated by devices called "responsometers". Each Metal Man also possessed abilities that reflected the traits of their namesake metal: Gold could stretch his form almost infinitely, Iron was super strong, Lead could block harmful radiation by morphing into thick shields, Mercury could melt and pass through small spaces before reforming and Platinum could stretch, flatten or spin into long filaments. The characters reappeared in the following three issues of Showcase (#38 - 40, June. Aug. & Oct. 1962) and proved popular enough to warrant a reappearance in their own eponymous title. First published in May 1963, the title ran on a bi-monthly schedule with original stories until Metal Men #41 (Dec. 1969). A second female robot (created by Tin) was introduced in issue #13 (April–May 1965), and was later (issue #15, August–September 1965) christened as "Nameless", last appearing in issue #32.http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cje/mh/ME/metal.html The tone changed with issue #33 (Sept. 1968) and shortly after the team adopted human identities in issue #37 (May 1969) the title was cancelled, the last issue being #41 (Dec. 1969). Issues #42, 43 and 44 (March, May and July 1973) reprinted earlier Showcase appearances and the first issue, with the title then on hiatus until returning with original numbering in issue #45 (May 1976). The bi-monthly publishing schedule continued until issue #56 (March 1978), when the title and many others were cancelled due to the DC Implosion. The Metal Men co-starred with other DC heroes such as Atom, Metamorpho and Batman in The Brave and the Bold #55 (Sept. 1964), #66 (July 1966), #74 (Nov. 1967), #103 (Nov. 1972), #113 (July 1974), #121 (Sept. 1975), #135-136 (July-Sept. 1977) and #187 (June 1982). This trend was repeated with Superman in DC Comics Presents #4 (Dec. 1978) and #70 (June 1984), and an appearance in Showcase #100 (May 1978). 1990s The group returned in an eponymous four issue limited series (Metal Men, vol. 2, #1 - 4, Oct. 1993 - Jan. 1994) that featured a retcon of the characters' origin story. A laboratory accident transfers the intellects and personalities of Doctor Magnus' brother Mike, his fiancee Sharon, laboratory workers Redmond Wilde and Randy Pressman, Thomas ***********Tinkham and a pizza-delivery man named Jack to blank robots (Gold, Platinum, Mercury and Iron, ***********Tin and Lead respectively). During a battle, Gold is killed and Doctor Magnus mortally wounded, being forced to transfer his personality into a robot known as Veridium. Magnus then becomes the leader of the Metal Men. Lead later makes a brief appearance as a worker at a superhero bar, and is temporarily damaged while protecting civilians."Guy Gardner Warrior" #38 (Jan. 1996) 2000s The Metal Men then reappeared during the Infinite Crisis storyline (Infinite Crisis #1 - 7, Dec. 2005 - June 2006, Villains United #1 - 6, July - Dec. 2005), battling the O.M.A.C.S cyborgs and acting as part of a superhero strike force assembled to protect the city of Metropolis from the Secret Society of Supervillains. Several of the Metal Men appeared in Justice League of America #1 (vol. 2, Aug. 2006), with the events of the limited series eventually revised and presented as a delusion suffered by Doctor Magnus in 52, #22 (Oct. 2006). The entire group reappeared in Superman/Batman #34-36 (May, July-Aug. 2007), having been rebuilt and upgraded and including a new female member, the sarcastic Copper. Employed by Lucius Fox as security for WayneTech, the Metal Men temporarily fall under the influence of Brainiac. The group starred in another eponymous limited series, running for eight issues (Metal Men vol. 3, #1 - 8 Oct. 2007 - June 2008). The brother of Doctor Magnus attempts to avert a catastrophic future and prevent the creation of the group, and uses a device stolen from the villain T. O. Morrow to change the Metal Men into evil, radioactive versions based on other metals, called the Death Metal Men (Uranium (Iron), Strontium (Mercury), Thorium (Platinum), Radium (Gold), Lithium (Copper), Polonium (Lead), and Fermium (***********Tin)). Doctor Magnus, however, is able to reverse the process and with the Metal Men and the assistance of the alien robot L-Ron, defeat his brother. The Metal Men also featured in a stand-alone story in the weekly publication Wednesday Comics (#1 - 12, Sept. - Nov. 2009), and co-starred in the first seven issues of Doom Patrol (vol. 5, Oct. 2009 - April 2010). This series was later reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Metal Men 100 Page Spectacular (2011). The Metal Men appeared in Justice League: Generation Lost #10-11 (Nov.- Dec. 2010). Captured by villain Maxwell Lord, the Metal Men are reprogrammed and believe themselves to be humans living in a magical fantasy world. At Lord's behest, the brainwashed Metal Men attack the members of the new Justice League International (thinking them monsters), and merge into their alternate universe persona Alloy (from the limited series Kingdom Come (#1 - 4, May - Aug. 1996)), but are eventually defeated. 2010s In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), the Metal Men are mentioned as a project by Will Magnus. A rebuilt Cyborg heads out to find Will Magnus so that he can learn about his Metal Men project.Justice League Vol. 2 #27 He refuses and relates to Cyborg their story: Magnus was tasked by the U.S. Government to create robot soldiers as well as thinking machines that could perform rescue missions in toxic environments. As in the original sixties series, Magnus created a “responsometer” – an artificial brain that would bond with a molten metal to fuse with its atomic structure and create a body for itself. Each was thrown into a vat of its respective metal. To his surprise, each of the Metal Men came out with full individual personalities. When Magnus's superior reveals their true purpose is actually target elimination, the Metal Men flee and take refuge in Magnus's apartment. Later, a mysterious figure stole Magnus's prototype responsometer and threw it into a vat of chemicals creating a creature that was made from those chemicals. Chemo attacked Magnus and the Metal Men responded by protecting him as well as the innocent bystanders caught in the rampage. They ended up sacrificing themselves by fusing into the creature. In the present, Magnus reveals that although the Metal Men's bodies were destroyed, their consciousnesses still live in the responsometers he still kept. He plans to use them against the Crime Syndicate.Justice League Vol. 2 #28 The Metal Men Gold The cleverest of the Metal Men and the acknowledged leader of the group in Doc Magnus's absence. Gold is calm and methodical and quick to praise the other members of the Metal Men and to use the group to the best of their abilities. Gold often has to keep the peace between the fiery Platinum and the temperamental Mercury. As Gold states himself"I am Gold, symbol AU, for Aurum, atomic number 79, atomic weight 197.2. I melt at 1063 degrees centigrade. An ounce of me can be drawn into a wire 50 miles long or hammered into a sheet 4 millionths of an inch thin!" Gold Facts and information *Gold does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. *Gold dissolves in Mercury. (Which I'm sure Mercury has pointed out) *Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve most other metals. Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items *Gold is a great conductor of heat and electricity *Gold can be made into thread and used in embroidery. *Gold produces a deep, intense red color when used as a coloring agent in glass. *Gold performs critical functions in computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products. *Gold's anti-oxidant properties has led to its widespread use as a thin layer coating electrical connectors, thereby ensuring good connections. *Gold alloys are used in restorative dentistry, especially in tooth restorations Physical properties Melting point 1337.33 K (1064.18 °C, 1947.52 °F) Boiling point 3129 K (2856 °C, 5173 °F) Heat of fusion 12.55 kJ•mol−1 Heat of vaporization 324 kJ•mol−1 Heat capacity (25 °C) 25.418 J•mol−1•K−1 Platinum Platinum or Tina as she is commonly known is the only female member of The Metal Men. She has a faulty 'responsometer' which makes here act like a real human woman.Tina is in love with Doc Magnus and the two regularly verbally spar with the Doc threatening to repair her 'responsometer'. She is very fiery and tempestuous and get very angry whenever Doc has a date and will happily try to split him up and get his attention back to her. She has a personality clash with Mercury the other firebrand of The Metal Men Platinum Facts and information *Platinum's wear- and tarnish-resistance characteristics are well suited for making fine jewellery *Platinum is more precious than gold *Platinum possesses high resistance to chemical attack *Platinum was discussed by astronomer Antonio de Ulloa and Don Jorge Juan y Santacilia *World supply of Platinum is around 7 million troy ounces (199,000 kg) per year *Platinum is almost two times heavier than gold. *Platinum is one of the noble metals *Platinum is often found chemically un-combined as native platinum Physical properties Melting point 2041.4 K (1768.3 °C, 3214.9 °F) Boiling point 4098 K (3825 °C, 6917 °F) Heat of fusion 22.17 kJ•mol−1 Heat of vaporization 469 kJ•mol−1 Heat capacity (25 °C) 25.86 J•mol−1•K−1 Iron Iron is the strong man of the group often combining with Lead to work as a closely knit unit. Fearless and brave Iron has no problems sacrificing himself to the greater good. Iron does not get involved with internal group difficulties and keeps himself apart from in-fighting As he says himself "If you want anything done ask me" Iron Facts and information *Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe *Iron is believed to be the tenth most abundant element in the universe *Iron is also the most abundant element by mass, making up 35% of the mass of the Earth as a whole *Iron is a necessary trace element used by all known living organisms *Excessive iron is toxic to humans, because excess ferrous iron reacts with peroxides in the body, producing free radicals *The first iron used by mankind, far back in prehistory, came from meteors *Iron suffers badly from rust if not protected in some way *The combination of low cost and high strength make iron indispensable Physical properties *Melting point 1811 K (1538 °C, 2800 °F) *Boiling point 3134 K (2861 °C, 5182 °F) *Heat of fusion 13.81 kJ•mol−1 *Heat of vaporization 340 kJ•mol−1 *Heat capacity (25 °C) 25.10 J•mol−1•K−1 Lead *Lead is the workhorse of the Metal Men, slow witted but invariably the first of the team to step up to the plate. Lead combines excellently with Iron. "I'm used as a shield against harmful rays including radiation " *Lead Facts and information *Lead is a chemical element that has the symbol Pb *lead is bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes to dull grey when exposed to air *lead is a potent neurotoxin which accumulates in soft tissues and bone over time *Lead is highly resistant to corrosion *Molten lead is used as a coolant, eg. for lead cooled fast reactors *Lead is used as projectiles for firearms because of its density, low cost, ease of use due and low melting point *Lead is used as a colouring element in ceramic glazes, notably in the colours red and yellow *Lead is a major constituent of the lead-acid battery used extensively in car batteries. Physical properties *Melting point 600.61 K (327.46 °C, 621.43 °F) *Boiling point 2022 K (1749 °C, 3180 °F) *Heat of fusion 4.77 kJ•mol−1 *Heat of vaporization 179.5 kJ•mol−1 *Heat capacity (25 °C) 26.650 J•mol−1•K−1 Mercury Mercury is the firebrand of the group, confrontational and hot headed he regularly gets into scrapes with the rest of the group especially Platinum. He feels his talents are not truly recognized and think that he should be leader of The Metal Men. "I'm Mercury the only metal liquid at room temperature. I react to temperature changes like a hot rod. I'm full of steam, I'm dynamite I'm..." Mercury facts and information *Mercury is also called Quicksilver *Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications *Mercury was once used in the amalgamation process of refining gold and silver ores *Mercury's chemical symbol is Hg *Mercury was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for speed and mobility *Mercury was used for wood preservation and the silvering of mirrors *Mercury use was thought to prolong life, heal fractures, and maintain generally good health *Liquid mercury was sometimes used as a coolant for nuclear reactors Physical properties *Melting point 234.32 K (-38.83 °C, -37.89 °F) *Boiling point 629.88 K (356.73 °C, 674.11 °F) *Heat of fusion 2.29  kJ•mol−1 *Heat of vaporization 59.11  kJ•mol−1 *Heat capacity (25 °C) 27.983  J•mol−1•K−1 Tin *Tin is the kind caring member of the group he has a terribly low self esteem and believes that he is not worth of being part of the Metal Men. He is however very brave and is happy to put his life on the line for his comrades. Tin suffers from a stammer bought on by his insecurity. "I'm Tin, softer than Zinc but harder then Lead! N-n-no offence meant Mr Lead! I turn to powder at 200 degrees centigrade but I'll do my best to be worthy of you all, if you'll give me a chance." *Tin facts and information *Tin has the chemical symbol Sn *Tin is not easily oxidised and resists corrosion *Tin is a malleable, ductile, highly crystalline, silvery-white metal *Tin can be highly polished and is used as a protective coat for other metals *Tin bonds readily with Iron *Tin foil was once a common wrapping material for foods and drugs *Tin becomes a superconductor below 3.72 K *Tin is the element with the greatest number of stable isotopes (ten) Physical properties *Melting point 505.08 K *(231.93 °C, 449.47 °F) *Boiling point 2875 K (2602 °C, 4716 °F) *Heat of fusion (white) 7.03  kJ•mol−1 *Heat of vaporization (white) 296.1  kJ•mol−1 *Heat capacity (25 °C) (white) 27.112  J•mol−1•K−1 Doc Magnus Creator of the Metal Men, genius scientist who created the revolutionary 'responsometer' which give the Metal Men their unique ability to react to almost any situation. Besides creating the Metal Men Doc Magnus is responsible for dozens of revolutionary inventions that are seen throughout the Metal Series. Sharing in their many adventures Doc on occasion falls foul of the Metal Men's enemies being turned himself into metal on several occasions Other versions *The Metal Men feature in a combined form called Alloy appears in the limited series Kingdom Come (#1–4 May-Aug. 1996) and in a possible future in Superman: Man of Steel 1000000 (Nov. 1998). *Tangent Comics: Metal Men #1 (Dec. 1997) features a covert ops group called the "Metal Men" composed of six human operatives. *The Metal Men of "Earth-44" (robotic versions of the Justice League and led by "Doc Tornado" a human version of the android Red Tornado) feature in the limited series Final Crisis (#1-7, July 2008 - March 2009). In other media * The Metal Men appeared in two episodes of the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008–2011): "Clash of the Metal Men" (Gold voiced by Lex Lang, Lead voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, Platinum voiced by Hynden Walch, Mercury voiced by Corey Burton, Iron voiced by Brian Bloom, and ***********Tin voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) and Part 2 of the double episode "The Siege of Starro!" * The Metal Men appear in their self-titled shorts of DC Nation Shorts with Gold and Lead voiced by Tom Kenny, Platinum and ***********Tin voiced by Hynden Walch, and Mercury and Iron voiced by Corey Burton. * The Metal Men make a cameo appearance in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier. *Merchandise has included a collector's plate by Alex Ross, a PVC figure set, 2008 Heroclix "Crisis" set and DC Universe Classics line (Iron, Gold and Mercury), with the rest of the team (Lead, and a two-pack of Platinum and ***********Tin) coming out later as part of the DC Universe Signature Series through MattyCollector.Com. *Barry Sonnenfeld is in talks with Warner Bros. to make a live action film version of the Metal Men.Exclusive: Barry Sonnenfeld’s Secret Comic-Book Movie Is ...DC Entertainment Chief Reveals What's Next for Superman, Wonder Woman and 5 Superheroes Who Deserve Movies (Q&A) Collected editions * The Metal Men Archives Vol. 1: Showcase #37-40, "Metal Men" 1-5, 244 pages, ISBN 1-4012-0774-X * Showcase Presents: Metal Men Vol. 1: Showcase #37-40, Brave and the Bold #55, "Metal Men" 1-16, 528 pages, ISBN 1-4012-1559-9 * Showcase Presents: Metal Men Vol. 2'': Showcase #37-40, Brave and the Bold #66, "Metal Men" 16-36, 528 pages, ISBN 1-4012-1976-4 * Metal Men: Metal Men #1-8, 200 pages, ISBN 1-4012-2212-9 See also *List of Metal Men enemies References External links * Toonopedia Entry * Summaries of Metal Men appearances * Cover of Metal Men comic books * Metal Men sales figures for 1964-1968 at The Comics Chronicles * Metal Men review site * Metal Men's secret origin on dccomics.com * Cosmic Teams: Metal Men Category:Comics characters introduced in 1962 Category:1963 comic debuts Category:DC Comics robots Category:DC Comics superhero teams Category:DC Comics titles Category:Characters created by Robert Kanigher Category:Characters created by Ross Andru